









^C 









0-0 <# 






















'^^-^*'' "*^i' '"^■'-■f '^&^ %<"'' 






%/ .*m"t %.^^ A'- \^/ .«-•' 

\ ■'■■ '\<^ % '^^' J^ \ - • . • <v % -^^ 








■c-i 












r 






AN 



ORATION, 



DEIIVEHED BErORX THE 



WASHINGTON BENEVOLENT SOCIETY 



AT CAMBRIDGE, 



JULY 4, 1815. 



Br ANDREAV BIGELOW, a. b. 



VWWX.WV w^ \ ^ ri ' *-' " 






CAMBRIDGE: 

PRINTED BY HILLIARD AND METCALF* 
1815. 

r 



t^' 



M a meeting uj the Standing Committee of the Washington Be- 
nevolent Society at Cambridge, July 4, 1815 ; — Voted, that WilL' 

JAM UlLLIARD, WiLLIAM J. WhiPPLE, and RiCHARD II. DaNA, 

Esquires, be a committee to wait on JIndreiv Bigeloiv, ^. B. to 
express the thanks of the Society for his patriotick Oration this day 
delivered before them, and to request a copy thereof for the press. 
Attest, WILLIAM J. WHIPPLE, Secr'y, 



5 



Xq 



ORATION. 



BRKTHREN AND FELLOW CITIZENS, 

The auspicious events, wLicli have ushered in the 
present momentous occasion, wake into feeling every 
generous sensibility of soul, and throw peculiar inter- 
est on the proud era, which we are assembled to com- 
memorate. The golden day-dreams of refluent pros- 
perity, which, a few months since, were deemed al- 
most too evanescent to be indulged, are at length giv- 
ing place to the still more splendid reality ; and the 
angel of Peace, which, but recently, was just seen to 
float in the dim distance of our political horizon — 
fair, though illusive, as an houri of Mahomet — has 
again beamed forth in primeval effulgence, and relu- 
mined her favourite Eden. Once more memory de- 
lights to revert to that eventful epoch, when the corner- 
stone of our august arch of state was laid amidst shouts 
of joy; and when our fostering eagle, roused by the 
morning orison of freedom, first left the aerie which 
rocked him into being, and grasping the new-born 
thunders, careered exulting on the blast of war. 

Of the numerous interesting reflections, wliich, on the 
present occasion, rush with tumultuous succession on the 
mind, the individual who has the honour to address 
you, in return for the high confidence he enjoys, would 
gladly imbody an appropriate selection, and invest 
them with proportion and symmetry. But the wish is 
as vain, as the attempt would be fruitless. If, from 
the endless variety of sentiment and subject some er» 



i V. 



4 
rant fantasy shall be arrestedj which haply may en- 
gage a transient interest ; if, of some one of that im- 
posing few, which frown with more than ordinary 
grandeur of relief, a single lineament shall be por- 
trayed, or a solitary outline be more distinctly shad- 
owed — he will have gained all his ambition dares to 
desire — more than liis apprehensions allow him to 
hope. 

Whatever be the cause, experience amply evinces, 
that as in the animal, so in the body politic, there is a 
regular progression from infancy to manhood, and 
thence to decay and dissolution. A nation glows on 
the panorama of empire only to swell the historic obit- 
uary ; — the Babel fabric, vt^hich lifts its storied arches 
to the clouds, and vainly bids defiance to destiny and 
time, becomes ere long a mere pompous mausoleum ; 
and at length, bleached with the hoar-frost of age, bur- 
ies its gloomy grandeur in the dust. Anteriourto its 
final dissolution a mournful vicissitude is not unfre- 
quently experienced, which consigns it to partial ob- 
livion; till some high-born genius arising, like Ty- 
phon, resistless, bursts the indurated shell, and re- 
stores it to beauty and splendour. These unhappy ef- 
fects are most to be apprehended when a people have 
advanced to i\mt dep^ec o^ perfectibilitij, which allows 
each individual to brand with opprobrium every ordi- 
nance of state, which fails to quadrate with a precon- 
ceived, vague opinion of right ; when every ideal de- 
reliction in duty becomes a theme of popular clamour, 
or wanton abuse; and when every pander of faction 
frames at pleasure a code of civil and political insti- 
tutes, and labours to subvert the government, which 
refuses to affiliate the half-formed bantling. The ruler, 
who pursues a tranquil routine of measures, is compar- 



5 

ed to a pageant, gorgeous and inefficient ; and tl»e obe- 
dient subject, who submits to the ordinary restraints of 
power, is assimilated to an oriental slave, who trem- 
bles at every arbitrary frown. Then commences tlie 
reign of innovation, and nought, which is consecrated 
by time or service, escapes pollution. It blends the 
rich mosaic of the constitution with the piebald chime- 
ras of unprincipled, or romantic experiment. It de- 
secrates the venerable appendages of church and 
state ; — the senate, the forum and the court ; — 

, but chief 

Thee, Sioii, and the flowery brooks beneath, 
Which wasli tliv hallowed feet .... 

Having succeeded in forcing an inroad into the sanctu- 
ary, every security of personal reputation, property 
and life, is found equally weak and unavailing ; the 
passive resistance of the subject, and the severest in- 
terdicts of the crown prove but ineffectual mithridates 
to the dreadful poison ; and the boasted indestructible 
bulwarks, which the wisdom of ages may have plant- 
ed around the palladium of state, are soon swept away 
in the resistless tide of lawless innovation. 

The revolutionary storm, which, within the memo- 
ry of the present generation, burst upon France, and 
buried in one indiscriminate ruin the altar and the 
throne, had been gathering long anteriour to its ulti- 
mate discharge. A flagrant licentiousness, sanctioned 
by the example of the court, had imperceptibly extend- 
ed its influence through every order of the communi- 
ty ; and that unhappy people had gradually declined 
to a state of moral degradation, when they had every 
thing to fear if Christianity be true, and when interest 
and passion maintained that it vvas false. Imbolden- 
ed by popular favour, Voltaire had already cemented 



6 

the mint of infidelity, and Rousseau had chanted the 
psean of renovated liberty ; whilst an infuriated multi- 
tude gave ready currency to the " gilded blasphemies'' 
of the one, and danced to the flippant variations of the 
other. Then rose the Pantheon on the ruins of the 
Cathedral ; — a mad refinement of principle, mantled 
with the attributes of sublimated reason, strode at leis- 
ure through society ; and anarchy, in the semblance of 
freedom, sapped the life-blood of the state. Effectual- 
ly to ensure the subversion of government, its enlight- 
ened reformers represented the political system as 
bowed with the accumulated weight of time ; and, in 
allusion to oriental belief, taught that the ethereal, viv- 
ifying spark still retained its primitive essence, and 
only awaited a disjunction of the earth-born tenementj 
to animate another more congenial to its nature. 

Whilst Europe beheld with trembling solicitude 
the progress of these dogmas, ignorant of their ultimate 
effects, France herself became the theatre of the awful 
experiment. Soon the floodgates of rebellion were 
raised ; and amidst the ensuing carnage and dismay, 
the deepest nightshade of atheism hung over that aban- 
doned country, and moral France was expunged from 
the map of Europe. One wave rolled forth from the 
flaming abyss of the revolution to be succeeded by an- 
other still more terrific. The blood-stained parasite 
of ambition, who chanced to gain the vantage-ground 
of party, was doomed to pay the forfeiture of life; and 
a Roland and Marat, aRobespiere and Barras — names, 
which " glare with horrid lustre" on the page of histo- 
ry — only scaled the republican scaffold, to plunge into 
destruction the more speedy and complete. 

Happy had it been for the rest of Europe, if prin- 
ciples so sanguinary and absurd had been bounded by 



7 
the confines of France. But in the exuberance of her 
philanthropy, she sent forth teachers to publish her 
rhapsodies of faith, and instruct mankind in the gram- 
mar of their rights. These loyal missionaries easily 
accommodated themselves to the gentile feelings and 
sentiments of their disciples ; — their Protean reveries 
they invested at pleasure with a diversity of shapes, and 
enjoyed the singular felicity of chiming with a variety 
of changes the same peal of bells. At first, their sy- 
ren blandishments proved availing. In the frenzy of 
desperation, many learnt to repeat the rosary of French 
philosophy ; and, like the fabled swan, having caught 
the fanatic Ca ira, warbled in death the fatal melody. 
But, by a natural obliquity of the human heart, a 
strong partiality continued to be evinced for the plain, 
unvarnished systems of other times ; and numbers 
boldly preferred the humble alphabet they had lisped 
in infancy, to the pompous hieroglyphics of a modern 
birth. Perceiving, at length, its utter inefiiciency, these 
humane philosophers dismissed the pantomime of ar- 
gument, and resorted to the sword ; — actuated by a.n 
additional hope of drovrning in the war-note of the cla- 
rion the cries of an agonised country. It was not how- 
ever till the Directory, that five-headed cerberus, had 
gained an ascendant, that Europe realized the awful 
desolation, which it bad long been taught to appre- 
hend. Then clouds of deeper gloom thickened around 
the dreadful crater, and emitted at intervals a sullen 
flash, in presage of the mighty eruption, which was 
speedily to ensue. Previously, indeed, a fitful gleam 
had occasionally rose up, and created a transient dis- 
may ; — but these were soon viewed as the mere lam- 
bent pastimes of boreal coruscations. The explosion, 
however, which followed, whilst it dispelled this fatal 



8 
illusion, rocked to its centre every throne in Europe. 
The papal power was shivered to the dust; Switzer- 
land soon existed only in memory ; and Holland was 
melted down into one uniform mass with the Great Re- 
public. Amidst the universal dismay, a gigantic form, 
mantled in every terrour, arose on the bewildered 
view ; and, like Milton's Satan, strode resistless along 
the flaming waste. Of boundless ambition, he grasp- 
ed at universal empire ; of daring impiety, proudly 
^^ shook his hand against the mount of the Daughter 
of Zion." To the savage ferocity of those, who had 
paved his way to power, he united a refinement in per- 
fidy and crime, with a heroism stern and remorseless. 
Every hostile pretension quailed to his superiour for- 
tune ; every obtruding difficulty blanched in the splen- 
dour of conquest. From the scattered fragments of 
the altar and the throne he reared a stupendous tow- 
er of iron despotism ; — and the astonished eye, view- 
ing what once was France, measured a dreary, deso- 
late expanse, where only a beetling turret frowned in 
massy strength, and one colossal form stalked in sul- 
len grandeur along its "cloud-capt" battlements. 

Whilst a tragedy thus deep and dreadful passed in 
review before the Eastern World, our infant Republic 
would have enjoyed peculiar happiness in a total ex- 
emption from sympathy and interest. At an early pe- 
riod of the progress of the new faith, Citizen Genet 
received the welcome commission to disseminate its 
principles among these Western settlements. With 
wonderful activity this zealous reformer freighted a 
Parisian balloon with the driveling pedlery of the Na- 
tional Convention, and immediately embarked on his 
aerial excursion, with a chosen colony of illuminated 
proselytes. His vivid fancy sketched our country as 



9 
some fairy landscape, where philosophy might wan- 
ton in bovvers of perennial verdure, and rear her pa- 
goda by Elysian water- falls. Often, in the enthusi- 
asm of hope, he contemplated the mingled pleasure 
and surprise, with which his arrival would be hailed 
by our unsuspecting brethren ; — emotions inferiour 
only to those excited by the Genoese discoverer ;- — and 
trusted, that with equal simplicity they would barter 
the gems and gold of a rude and honest integrity, for 
the beads and bugles of French philosophy. 

It is needless to remind you, that many of these 
reveries proved as illusive, as the breast, which con- 
ceived them, was treacherous. The old confederacy, 
crushed by its own weight, had, for some years, been 
succeeded by our present constitution, framed and con- 
solidated under happier auspices. The master- 
springs, which still move the stupendous wheels of 
government, were then directed by the arm of our im- 
mortal Washington. The French ambassador had 
yet to learn, that the Hero, who, under Providence, 
had borne our country through the storms of war, and 
had rescued its infant Genius, while tossed in the bul- 
rush ark upon the tide of faction, still watched the 
soil, where bloomed the tree of its existence, and wav- 
ed a flaming sword around the hallowed portals. 

But though in some degree disappointed. Citizen 
Genet was not disposed to abandon his insidious 
views. He was aware, that effectually to corrupt 
the stream, it was necessary, that the fountain itself 
should be poisoned ; and therefore applied himself 
with assiduity to produce a diversion in the cabinet. 
This favourite purpose was easily achieved ; and men, 
high in responsibility, were found to adopt the views 
and subserve the interests of France ; — men, who have 



10 
since quartered ai'ms with its preseut ruler, and wan- 
tonly endangered tlie freedom and independence of 
this country. To awaken concern and sympathy, 
France was represented as a generous sister republic, 
who had caught from our altars the vestal spark of 
liberty, and possessed with ourselves an interest one 
and indivisible. This futile o[)inion, like the gifts of 
Pandora, glided through society in a thousand forms ;— 
war with England was imperiously demanded in bc- 
lialf of the Great Republic ; and in the acrimony of 
disappointment, the magicians of faction strove with 
idle incantations to darken the splendour of their coun- 
try's Hero. AV^ashed in the lustral waters of the new 
philosophy, every demagogue, who had vapoured and 
fumed himself out of obscurity, rudely attempted to 
rend the curtain of state, and thought, like the impious 
Israelite, to lay an unhallowed hand upon the Ark of 
God. 

But Washington required not the spear of Ithu- 
riel to detect the latent fiend; or the aid of inspira- 
tion to analyze his insidious views. His lofty eye 
scanned the whole conduct of France in every relation, 
foreign and statistic. He beheld the repeated instanc- 
es of outrage heaped on states once allied to her by 
the strongest local and sympathetic ties ; the cool in- 
difference with which she sported with the eternal 
laws of nations, and wantonly abrogated the most sol- 
emn treaties ; the Vandal ferocity, with which, under 
pretence of freedom, she had imbrued her hands in the 
blood of a legitimate sovereign ; and, above all, the 
fiend-like triumph, with which she spurned every 
moral obligation, and severed the last ligament, which 
bound her to her God. Such evidence was too fla- 
grant to be resisted. Boldly unmasking the impos- 



11 

tare, lie showed that the venal emissaries of France 
were awaiting a favourable conjancture to effect in our 
country the utter prostration of every civil and polit- 
ical establishment ; — and that under the meretricious 
show of friendship, they were only gilding the fatal 
steel, and wreathing a chaplet to ornament the devot- 
ed victim. 

The most eventful crisis in our national annals 
was probably that, when the fragile compact of revo- 
lutionary emergency was found no longer to answer 
the purposes of its institution ; and when from the 
mass of discordant materials, a new system was to be 
reared, and every conflicting jealousy be merged in 
the general interest. But second in moment only to 
that is the period we have been just reviewing ; and 
never were more decisively displayed the awful ener- 
gies of Washington. He well knew, that a war with 
England, was a wdv with the dearest interests of our 
country ; and whatever might be the prejudices of 
party cabal, that the high concerns of the latter still 
continued indefeasible and paramount. During his 
administration, therefore, he resolutely opposed the 
destructive measure ; and preserved, amidst the wan- 
ton insults of the great and the unmeaning ribaldry 
of the low, a neutrality inviolate and sacred. In- 
trenched in the solitude of its unshaken purpose, his 
august mind towered a mighty obelisk amidst sur- 
rounding ruin. Unawed by faction, Washington, 
like the orb of day, serenely rolled on his radiant car, 
aloof from clouds and storms. 

Having watched efS'ectually over the interests of 
the country, during this critical period, he retired from 
office in the vain hope of attaining tranquillity. But 
the insolence of the Directory soon rose to a flagrant 



IS 

enormity. France endeavoured to wield our govern- 
ment at pleasure, and steal perfidiously its "sleeping 
thunders." Roused by repeated indignities, our coun- 
try, at length, assumed the panoply of war ; and 
Washington, at the head of its armies, frowned defi- 
ance upon the treacherous Republic. It was then at 
the height of human glory — whilst his amaranth shed 
its holiest fragrance — that, like Moses caught from 
mount Pisgah, our Hero winged his flight to heaven. 
The first-born psean of our country blended a tribute 
to his generous worth : — and when her orb shall have 
rolled doAvn the horizon of empire, and the last blush 
of lingering twilight shall steal along the pensive waste ; 
when no sound shall break the stillness, but the deep 
chiming of her mournful curfew — liaply some hoary 
minstrel shall wake the harp of eulogy, and hallow 
its latest requiem with the name of Washington. 

But though wrapped himself from the ken of man, 
we still enjoy a holy bequest in his illustrious exam- 
ple. Having presided in the Convention, which 
framed our present constitution, he was necessarily 
familiar with its principles and genius ; and in his con- 
duct exhibited the ablest comment on that noble in- 
strument. Foreign influence in all its phases he re- 
ligiously discarded ; and laboured to close every av- 
enue, which might facilitate its entrance into the na- 
tional cabinet. His was an honest, magnanimous pol- 
icy, founded on strict, indissoluble faith, in relation 
both to states and individuals. The noblest evidence 
of its redeeming virtue is displayed in our rapid ascent 
from the most abject state of political abasement to 
opulence, prosperity and power. It is not designed to 
contrast our present situation with that, which result- 
ed from his disinterested counsels. Such delinea- 



13 

tion would be as mournful, as it is flagrant. It may 
not however be superfluous to remark, that, had his 
example been uniformly cherished by his successors, 
our country would not have involved its destiuies with 
those of Europe, or been made to vibrate with every 
eccentricity of the Gallic magnet; — that we should 
never have been initiated in that sublime chemistry, 
which so successfully transmuted the useless eagles 
of an overflowing treasury into the boundless wilds of 
Louisiana ; or, beheld a thousand humming-birds of 
favour, fluttering and buzzing in every corner of the 
Capitol. 

The effects of that philosophy, which has been the 
subject of present review, and which, a few months 
since, was thought consigned forever to oblivion, 
have recently appeared in a deeply interesting and 
stupendous event. The happy return of Europe to 
independence and rest has proved but a transient il- 
lusion. Peace, we fear, was only a prelude to a more 
terrific storm. In defiance of the most solemn en- 
gagements, the grand brigand, who for years wield- 
ed the destinies of France, and spread dismay 
through Europe, has again sprung from obscurity and 
usurped the throne of the Bourbons. We behold 
him, like the unbending Eoman amidst the ruins of 
Carthage, viewing with sullen triumph the prostrate 
relics of all that is venerable and sacred ; maturing in 
the gloomy recesses of his breast schemes of gigantic 
villainy. 

The commencement of the year 1812 is an era for- 
ever memorable in the annals of Europe. Bonaparte 
had then attained the loftiest height of human aggran- 
dizement. From the waters of the Ebro to the mouth 
of the Elbe, and from the clifi's of Calais to the pro- 



14 

montory of Sparti-vento at the extremity of Italy, his 
sway was absolute. On the peninsula, indeed, the 
mountain blast which swept the heights of Grenada, 
and rolled up the bolder crags of the Andalusian 
sierras, still waved the proud, though shattered ban- 
ner of the house of Bourbon; but elsewhere his 
haughty eagle cowered only to the British lion. Suc- 
cess, however, merely served to increase the flame of 
his ambition. The meteor gleamed but to elude pur- 
suit ; — the horizon still moved on, as he proceeded. 
In the delirium of fancied omnipotence he thought 
to prostrate the empire of the Czars, but saw his fatal 
errour under the walls of Moscow. A spark of its an- 
cient glory quivered into being ; and from the moulder- 
ing ruins of the Kremlin an immortal heroism arose, 
and hurled back the unhallowed spoiler. We rejoic- 
ed in the awful vicissitude, and fondly imagined, that 

he fell like Lucifer, 

Never to hope as^ain 

Abject and suppliant, he excited a mingled sentiment 
of horrour and commiseration. We viewed him as 
raised up by Providence to abide a monument of a- 
venging wrath, and blaze a mighty beacon on the 
flood of time. 

By his return to France Napoleon has severed the 
tenure, by which he held his life, and voluntarily laid 
himself under the ban of Europe. The paciilc dis- 
positions, however, which he has manifested since his 
restoration, have induced many to believe, that whilst 
he respired in exile the air of Elba, his character un- 
derwent a complete reformation. Hence they have 
inferred, that an attempt to deprive him of the pos- 
session of the empire would be an interference wan- 
ton and unauthorized. It is not remembered, that he 



15 

lias long been stained with multiplied atrocities, and 
imbrued his hands in every species of guilt ; that he 
is now seated by perfidy ou the throne of St. Louis, 
and robed in the ermine of his legitimate successor. 
The sceptre, which he holds, is the boon of a lawless 
soldiery. Dazzled by the lustre of conquest, and ac- 
tuated by the hope of plunder, they have again raised 
him to power to be only an instrument for the attain- 
ment of their flagitious views. Intoxicated with suc- 
cess, once more he bids defiance to the world, and 
like the proud Assyrian, thinks " to ascend into 
Heaven, and exalt his throne above the stars of GroD." 
Whilst therefore, he is allowed to sway the scep- 
tre of France, Europe trembles on the brink of a vol- 
cano. Happily she is awake to her interests ; and 
they are blended with the cause of truth and injured 
virtue. The blood of Louis cries from the ground. 
The thousand hecatombs already immolated have not 
appeased his vindictive shade. It stalks perturbed 
amidst the gloom of the Magdalen, and shrieks for 
vengeance along the margin of the Seine. But the 
hour of retribution is at hand. Already we behold in 
vision the Deity, pavilioned in gloom, descending to 
avenge the wrongs of Zion. Justice exults in the tri- 
umphant hope, that soon the lightning of fate, " wing- 
ed from the armoury of God," will strike the haughty 
tyrant to the earth, and blast forever the eyry, which 
cradles the spirit of destruction. 

But amidst the ravages of the tempest, which low- 
ers over Europe, an opportunity is presented us, 
through the kind interposition of Providence, of reas- 
ccnding to opulence and power. At a crisis the most 
signal and interesting was the avenging sword with- 
drawn, which waved in judgment over our country. 



16 

From the repeated disappointment of brighter pros- 
pects, anticipation had depicted the gloomiest perspec- 
tive. It beheld a war, without, desolating our fron- 
tiers ; and brooding, unmolested, its gorgon terrors 
throughout the extent of an unprotected coast. It be- 
lield venality and violence, within, usurping the place 
of public spirit and individual virtue ; the national 
energies wasted on schemes of romantic experiment, 
or lawless ambition ; and liberty, the proud birthriglit 
of American citizens, prostituted to the base-born 
views of every caterer of faction. TV ith still deeper 
concern, it saw the fountains of civil discord success- 
ively breaking up, and every vestige of independence 
in danger of being merged in the vast inundation. 
Anticipation, however, proved premature ; and all its 
sombre pageant vanished into air. The bird of dis- 
covery returned with the olive branch of promise ; 
and the mystic arch beamed from the clouds, in sym- 
bolic assurance of peace, security and hope. 

Along the dim avenue of receding events, we re- 
joice in beholding our country's gradual ascent to 
fame. We exult that the radiant coronet, which cir- 
cled the brow of her infant Genius, now sparkles with 
lambent splendour. But with sublimer triumph we 
hail the visions of her future glory. Borne on the 
pinion of hope, fancy passes the glimmering purlieus, 
and sailing along tlie golden vista, beholds her march 
to empire resistless, as august. 



H 33 89 !1 







^o ^-v-. 



iOv. 













■0.^ Xv 

.*►• -o 













> 9 














• "^^^o C'?^"^ *>Va\ '^^ A^ 










\* <.^ 



^0^ 

^ 




V-o^ 







^* /^^-v *-o.„./ ,kSM. ^^..^^ /Jfe'. -"^o.../ .V 




v^^- 








'^c,- 







-St, ", 




















L^^r 



J^ \ 


















.^' :-mA'. \,o^ :^: \/ y^, %,^* / 

* A^ On • ©11^ * «? V-. » ' 



*3^ 





HECKMAN I 

BINDERY INC. | 

^s, APR 89 



N. MANCHESTER, 
INDIANA 46962 



.^ »■ >£^lillil^ ' 




^^•n^. 



^.,s^ A<<orA''o *^^.,^ 







